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Gaining entrance to the extremely competitive and prestigious SKY universities in Seoul requires that some students become jaesusaeng after an initial less-than-stellar performance on the national exam. Korea is "prepossessed by social status and reputation," and a SKY education is the main way to gain social status.[3]

The stress from constant study and limited social life of as a student has contributed to an increase in suicide in South Korea; for children aged 10 to 19 years old, suicide is the second most common cause of death in South Korea.[3]

When a student fails to earn an adequate score over 3 or more years, he may be derisively referred to as a jangsusaeng (Hangul: 장수생; Hanja: 長壽生, literally "long life student") a play on words from the expression "Please live a long life" said to elders (장수 하세요). However, since the year of 2010, the word "N susaeng"(Hangul: 엔수생; Hanja: N 壽生)is in common use. Although the definition of the word and the use of it is identical to the formerly used vocabulary, the Chinese character '長', which is read 'jang' and corresponds to the adjective 'long', is replaced with the alphabet 'N', which stands for the undefined number of time the student is taking the test.